Colorado Real Estate Journal - January 21, 2015
A Denver commercial real estate firm that decided five years to “go big” now is part of the third-largest company of its kind in the world. Cassidy Turley, with Colorado offices in Denver and Fort Collins, now operates as DTZ, a global company with $2.9 billion in annual revenues and more than 28,000 employees. The consolidation – which follows recent acquisitions of the two companies by a consortium backed by TPG Capital, PAG Asia Capital and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan – pools DTZ’s huge presence in Europe and Asia with Cassidy Turley’s capabilities throughout the United States. It also puts DTZ among the ranks of commercial real estate powerhouses CBRE and JLL. “We can do virtually any type of real estate anywhere in the world,” said Greg Morris, DTZ’s managing principal in Denver, who oversees a combined workforce of 180 employees in the metro area and Northern Colorado. Part of an ongoing consolidation within the commercial real estate arena, the transition represents immense change for a company whose reach, for most of its history, was confined to Colorado. The Denver office was founded as Fuller and Co. in 1955. “In late 2009, when we were coming out of the recession, we met internally to discuss, ‘What do we want to be when we grow up,’ because we saw the changes to the industry and the business. We decided it was a question of, ‘Do we want to go big or stay local,’” said Morris. “We made the decision to go big.” The company met with CBRE and JLL to talk about being acquired, “but it wasn’t the right fit for us,” said Morris. The Denver firm was drawn to the entrepreneurial and independent spirit of then-newly formed Cassidy Turley, which resulted in its affiliation and ultimate sale. “Up until 2010, we were primarily a local, regional fullservice commercial real estate brokerage company and didn’t really venture outside the Denver metro area or Colorado. We have changed and grown more in the last four years than in the previous 55 years,” Morris said. “Our brokers and clients welcome this change. It really allows us to keep pace with the changing industry and demands and expectations of our clients,” he said. Noting that clients expect a higher level of service today, Morris said in order to retain topperforming brokers, “We have to be able to deliver resources and services to our brokers so they in turn can provide that to clients.” The Denver DTZ office remains “a very, very tight group,” he said.
Consolidation within the commercial real estate industry has created “an incredible last few years,” said Morris, who believes that, going forward, there will be “three or maybe four very large, full-service global companies.” “There is probably room for one more, but I personally think that after that last spot is filled, that there will be a barrier to entry and the door to a global platform is going to close. This is going to be a very interesting time coming up over the next year or so to see who steps up to fill that final spot on a global level. “I think what you’re going to see moving forward are three levels of companies”: the large, global firms; niche companies that specialize in a specific product type, such as retail or multifamily; and then small, local real estate companies. “There’s certainly room for local companies, and there is a niche for them in the community,” he said. “But as time goes on, it will be bifurcated between those three classes of companies. You have to find the space you want to operate in, and if you’re not in one of those three spaces – really well-defined, and you really add value and you can compete in those spaces – I don’t know what you do. “It will be interesting to see what happens with some of the companies that are in limbo right now and that have not taken that step to go global. I think it’s going to be a struggle breaking through after the territories have been established,” Morris said. DTZ manages 3.3 billion square feet of real estate globally on behalf of institutional, government, corporate and private clients. It is ranked No. 1 in China for investment sales transactions, with more than 50 percent market share, and No. 3 in London and the United Kingdom.